Project Newsletter Vol.I

In this issue we have decided to include by request a copy of the hand-out prepared by Jeff Childs for cur field visit to Llanishen. In future numbers we shall try to include brief notes on other places we have visited during the summer months. Continuing our policy of reproducing source material for the history of Roath, we publish this quarter the Report of the Officer of Health for 1872. It is a model of a 19th century professional report and must have in its day so impressed the Roath District Board of Health that they ordered several copies to be specially printed. The document is quite rare and we are indebted to the Librarian, Cardiff Central Library for allowing access to their original printed copy and for permission to copy its contents. The report for 1872 being the only one available in printed form provides us with a valuable insight into the living conditions of the parishioners, the state of public health and sanitary conditions prevailing in Roath in the Victorian era. Dr.Paine was an extremely able and energetic officer who for many years was also Medical Officer of Health in Cardiff. Public Health in Roath will be the subject of an article in a future Newsletter. * * * * * * * * CONTENTS Brief Notes on Llanishen Jeff Childs 61 Llanishen - sketch map 65 Notes on the Church in Roath Alec Keir 66 A to Z of Place-names in Roath (G to I) 71 Sketch map of Roath, 1840, showing "Griffithsmoor". 76 Report of Officer of Health to the Roath District Board of Health, 1872 77 BRIEF NOTES ON LLANISHEN Like Roath, Llanishen has been at varying times throughout history a village, a parish and a manor. Until well into this century the area was somewhat akin to a nucleated village although dispersed farmsteads were also a characteristic feature. Since the Second World War the landscape has changed dramatically, the pastoral setting having given way to suburbia - and suburbia “gone mad’. THE MANOR OF ROATH KEYNSHAM There was no manor of Llanishen but the area we now know as Llanishen formed part of the several manors and other lands which fell within the Norman lordship of Cardiff. Corbett’s map of the manors shows that the greater part of what became the ecclesiastical parish of Llanishen was included in the outlying reaches of the manor of Roath Keynsham. Within this area fell what is now Thornhill Road - stretching almost from its junction with Beulah Road and Ty Glas Road as far north as Craig Llanishen where the Traveller’s Rest now stands. The western boundary of this part of Roath Keynsham appears to have followed the same line as the boundaries between the later ecclesiastical parishes of Llanishen and Whitchurch. This part of the manor, therefore, included the area since taken up by well known homesteads and farms such as New House, Deri Dwm, Pantysgawen (Llanishen Cottage Farm), Parc (Llanishen Cottage) and Ton Mawr. (now demolished). The eastern boundary followed the course of Llanishen Brook from its source in Craig Llanishen as far south as Ty Glas Road. Between Thornhill Road and the eastern boundary the manor included the later farmsteads of Tir Hwnt, Llwyn Crwyn Fawr, Ysgubor Wen and Ty Coch. Capel Gwilym (Baptist), erected in 1831, also fell within this part of Roath Keynsham manor. The southern boundary followed the Ty Glas Road from its junction with Heol Hir westward to include Blue House (or Ty Glas). At this point ( approximately at the junction of Ty Glas Road and White Barn Road) the boundary continued horizontally to its western boundary approximately where Tyn y Coed Farm stood. MANOR OF ROATH DOGFIELD The manor of Roath Dogfield also included within its territory a sizeable area of modern Llanishen. On Corbett’s map it is shown as including the greater part of Heol Hir, Llanishen Church and at its eastern extremity the area that made way for the Rhymney Railway and Llanishen station, as well as Llanishen Mill. The eastern boundary for part of its way also followed the Llanishen and Lisvane parochial boundary. Included within the area once covered by this manor were Llwyn Crwyn Fach (later Llwyn Crwyn Ganol), Llanishen Mill and Mill Farm. MANOR OF LLYSTALYBONT Like the manors of Roath Keynsham and Dogfield, that of Llystalybont was fragmentary within the greater lordship of Cardiff. Within the later parish of Llanishen, Llystalybont formed two main areas. Part of it stretched from Craig Llanishen in the north to just south of where Cherry Orchard Road crosses the railway. In the west and south it was bounded by Roath Dogfield whereas in the north it was bounded by the Welsh country of Cibwr. This part of Llystalybont would have included part of Heol Hir, Hendre Farm and Velindre Cottage. The main part of Llystalybont Manor however was concentrated south of the Ty Glas and Lisvane Roads so that within the later ecclesiastical parish it would have included the following farmsteads: Fidlas, Rhyd y Penna, Duffryn, Celyn, Cefn Coed Fach and Fair Oak. THE GREAT HEATH Until the Enclosure Award of 1809 the Great Heath (Mynydd Bychan) formed a wide tract of uncultivated land lying to the north of Cardiff. Corbett’s map of the manors shows the Great Heath as incorporating that part of the later Llanishen parish which included the following features: the cross roads at the junction of the Beulah, Ty Glas, Caerphilly and Thornhill Roads; part of Caerphilly Road just south of Ton yr Ewen Farm, the greater part of what became Cardiff Racecourse and Heathwood Road. WELSH COUNTRY OR DISTRICT OF CIBWR This formed a sizeable tract of land in the north-west of the Norman lordship. It was designated by the Normans as the Welshry, being characterised by dispersed settlements and consisting primarily of native Welsh tenants who, unlike their counterparts in the Englishry, held land free of services except the duty of attending the lord’s Court at Cardiff. That part of the district which came to be included within the ecclesiastical parish was centred in the remote north-west of the parish and would have included Heol Hir and Cwm farms. THE PARISH OF LLANISHEN The Church of St. Isan The parish church of St Isan or Nissan, like its sister ones in Roath, Lisvane and Llanforda originally served as a chapel of ease for the parish church of St. Mary, Cardiff. The parish of St. Mary’s covered an extensive area coterminous with the Norman lordship of Cardiff. According to J.H. Matthews, "there was a large monastery of the ancient British Church (in Llanishen) presided over by Saint. Nisien or Isan". If this was on the same site as the present church it would therefore be pre-Norman in origin. According to John Hilling: St. Isan’s Church at Llanishen is more recent (than St.Denys, Lisvane) and comprises two churches in one - a narrow fourteenth century building and, alongside it, a much larger nineteenth century extension. The earlier church now forms the south aisle (originally the nave), a small chapel (originally the chancel), a stone-vaulted south porch and a slender embattled west tower. Curiously, both churches seem to be dedicated to the same saint - Denys being an abbreviation for and Isan being a derivation from Dionysius - and would appear to be two branches of a still earlier chapel. (In Stewart Williams ed. South Glamorgan: A County History. p. 51). The tithes of the chapelries along with the mother church of St.Mary were appropriated when the latter became a priory of Tewkesbury Abbey in 1102. As rector, the Abbey was entitled to the greater or corn tithes. The practice usually adopted was to assign to the Vicar (of St. Mary’s, Cardiff) the lesser tithes and the altarage dues, leaving to the Rector the major or great tithe, more easily calculable. However in 1248 the Bishop of Llandaff agreed with the Abbey that the Vicar should include within his dues the proceeds of St. John’s Chapel (Cardiff) but was to maintain the Chaplain of St. Johns in food, and pay to the Abbey 20 shillings in acknowledgment of its rectorial rights. From the parish revenue would also be drawn the wage of the chaplains of Cardiff (St.John’s) and Roath, "but in the case of the chaplain at Llanishen and Lisvane it was the practice to lease to him the oblations and certain of the tithes of the chapel in lieu of salary”. (William Rees: Cardiff: A History of the City. p.29). Rees adds: At the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the chaplain at Llanishen seems to have ministered both at Llanishen and Lisvane and the Church buildings here comprised the priests house at Llanishen and the tithe barns at both Llanishen and Lisvane. It was shortly after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, with the purchase in 1546 by Sir George Herbert of Tewkesbury property, that the former chapel of Llanishen with Lisvane became separate parishes. According to Rees: Tewkesbury property here (Llanishen) with the priest's house and land was already being leased by John Bawdrip but in 1557 the property of the church at Lianishen with Lisvane was sold outright to Roger Kemeys of Cefn Mably for £120....In 1603 Llanishen was a curacy worth £5 a year, the patronage by that time held by Sir Edward Lewis to descend in course of succession to the Earl of Plymouth, and to Charles Kermeys-Tynte.....At the end of the eighteenth century John Kemeys-Tynte was sharing the tithes of Llanishen with the Earl of Plymouth.

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